MARTIN: "IT'S BEEN A GOOD START"

30 August 2012

Gills Manager looks ahead to weekend fixture...

Gills Manager Martin Allen says he is very proud of the efforts his players have put in since he arrived at the club at the start of July.

The 2-0 defeat to Middlesbrough in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday evening was Martin’s first competitive defeat as manager, but is now turning his attention to the match against Chesterfield at MEMS Priestfield on Saturday.

Despite the fact John Sheridan left the club as manager during the week, Martin still feels it will be a tough game.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday he said:

“It’s a long season, it’s only just started and there’s a long, long way to go. It is a good start for us, there’s no doubt about it.

“Chesterfield were really unlucky to get relegated and they had a really good run at the end of last season and obviously they won the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

“It’s sad to see John Sheridan has lost his job because I like him as a bloke and was always good to me. That’s disappointing but unfortunately that’s the business we are in.

“I’m sure the lads who have taken over, albeit maybe temporarily, will have them well prepared and ready for this game.”

Martin admitted that the visiting players may step it up a notch as they look to impress the caretaker management team, but says his own staff have done their homework.

He said: “It can happen that and we have seen it over the years. They also say if you get manager of the month they the next game is tricky one so peculiar things happen.

“We have watched quite a few clips of their games so far that have been put together by our lads working behind the scenes at the club.

“Every game is hard though – you have to earn the right to play and you have to have that intense passion and desire and calmness and quality to win games and football supporters, players and managers all know you have to be right at it if you’re going to win any game you play and this one is no different on Saturday.”

As for team news the only headache will be whether to play Charlie Lee or not after being substituted early on Tuesday night, but the manager says replacing him will cause no problems if required.

He said: “We will have a look at Charlie tomorrow; he has severe bruising on his thigh so he won’t be training on Thursday – players were off on Wednesday. We will review everyone first thing Friday.

“If he’s not fit then someone else will play and as we have seen we have won games with everybody playing. The bottom line is that we have eight games in 25 days and that’s tough going by anyone’s stretch of the imagination, especially when you have just come back from the summer.

“The name of the game is to get as many points as we can and not to get any injuries and that’s key. We need to keep everybody fit, hungry and on board.

“We use the cliché take one game at a time – we will prepare for the game on Saturday and when it finishes at five o’clock it has been well documented preparation starts right away with the warm down, food and the ice baths.”